Brooks: ‘Manchin’s Been Utterly Consistent’ When Repeatedly Asked about Spending Bill, if Only People Took Him Seriously

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has been “utterly consistent” in response to repeated questions on his position on the Build Back Better reconciliation bill and that getting the bill passed would have been easier if people had taken him seriously.

Brooks stated, “Joe Manchin’s been utterly consistent. And he’s just said what he meant and it’s been clear. If people would take him seriously, they’d say, okay, that’s what we’ve got to live with. These are our constraints. How do we deal with — we’re not going to get the New Deal? How do we deal with plan B? And so, what they did, they decided to keep every little aspect of the bill, but shrink it down and make it temporary. I think it would have been smart of them just to pick a few things and say, we’re going to have a child thing, where we’re going to have child tax credits, early childhood education, community college. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s what the country needs right now.”

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